I don't know about rowling.
I have this funny feeling that a person clever enough to write these books and cunning enough to add in all the twists and unexpected bits we have seen so far, would be clever enough to go out of her way not to give away for definite any parts of the last book, and possibly even to lead rumours down the wrong track.
She knows there is going to be hype about the book, but the hugely tight security i have heard about surrounding the books (i heard that all the 750,000 copies coming to austrialia will be held in one highly secure warehouse until the 16th, when they will be boxed in lots of 20, marked HP7, and transported by locked van to the various bookshops around the state. THe boxes aren't allowed to be opened until within 1 hour of being sold or something, the books cannot go on display (in shop windows etc) to the public until 30 minutes before the 9.01 am official sale opening time and all people who have come into contact with the books have to sign a huge legal document about not revealing any of the information), which gives her great power because she is pretty much the only person on the planet who has the ability to reveal information about the books without being thrown in prison. I think she is too clever to let anything slip that would give fans a clue to the answers.
I reckon anything she refuses to comment on doesn't necessarily mean the answer people want - by not giving an answer she isn't denying anything but she isn't supporting any ideas either - and when she does answer questions, i wouldn't be so sure she isn't just stirring the pot a little.
I 've just had this feeling for some time that everytime someone says "Rowling admitted that so many people die, and that this and this and this might happen bla bla bla" that it's not entirely right. She hasn't written 6 hugely famous books and kept the answers to all of them a secret to let loose on the last one!
Anyhows,
personally i don't think i am the type to burn the book. I suppose i will accept whoever dies...especially if its your favourite character who dies, because it makes the whole reading experience more emotional, which is what is fun about reading. Everyone loves a book where they get to have a good cry at the end.
I think i will be most dissapointed if she makes it too soppy at the end or too fairytale like, but i don't think she will.
I read in the newspaper that something like 60% of potter readers are ageing with him. Like us i suppose. We started the first one in primary school, at about the age potter was when he started at hogwarts, maybe a bit younger, and we have aged with potter so now we are his age, or a little older.
Therefore a more mature ending would work for those readers.
But then there are all these ten year olds who found the books 8 years after the first was written, and probably haven't understood the more subtle things in the last couple of books because they are too young.
Unfortunatly, to make the money, she has to cater for all these readers...
